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Why BMW riders hear “I didn’t know BMW made motorcycles” all the time.
Since 1923 BMW has been making motorcycles. Very good motorcycles. So good in fact, that when the Japanese first started moving hard into the higher performance bike market, the bike they dissected wasn’t a Harley- but a BMW.
Unfortunately, BMW Motorrad (that’s the motorcycle division in BMW speak) either:
1) doesn’t get advertising at all, or
2) their agency (that doesn’t get the bike or the rider) has some sort of magic potion that makes the people who approve the ads become stupid.
The headline in the ad is “You don’t need a hibachi to cook Japanese” the copy that follows is:
“So I’m riding through the city and I pass this guy over the bridge. Apparently, he wasn’t too happy about it because he wound up trying to pass me back. Guess he saw that BMW logo and decided to put me in my place. Well, that didn’t happen. Because I shifted up a gear, flicked the throttle, and there went Mr. Hot Shot Racer Boy, disappearing in my rearview mirror. I guess he didn’t know that I was packing 163 horsepower. But you know what? He knows now.”
This is an ad for a K1200 R- “the most powerful naked bike ever”- you can find out more at bmwmotorcycles.com (which isn’t working today)- but, here’s what I have to say to the micro-dick copy jock who wrote this ad: you suck.
The K1200 R is a $14,250 MSRP motorcycle. Hardly something that crotch rocket boys can afford- you can buy all kinds of “rice-burners” with splashy graphics, a seat that only someone who doesn’t value their family jewels can love (not saying BMW makes great seats either) and a high pitched whine that makes your head hurt- for about half the price of the K bike. Plus, this isn’t exactly a bike for beginners- no 1200R is.
Now, BMW has a slight problem with their line to begin with- with no true BMW bikes under 1100cc’s (the 650’s are all equipped with a non-BMW engine- and have a totally different feel). So there is no entry-level BMW competition for the crotch rocket crowd. But that shouldn’t stop the agency from understanding who should be interested in this bike- and how to craft the story that goes with it. The agency by the way is Merkley & Partners (who’s lame site fails to list Arby’s as a client since Sept. 2004 (update: Sept. 18 2005- they now list Arby’s and have Arby’s work on the site- too bad they still haven’t redone Arby’s lame site).
Update: Jan 30 2006- Arby’s site STILL SUCKS. But, Merkley and Partners is producing TV spots that cost 100x more than what it would to at least put up something close to relevant to the campaign.
So- what is the answer to this advertising problem? Well, at one time an agency wanted to win the BMW car business, so they sent out disposable cameras to 1000 new owners of Volvo, Mercedes and BMW- and asked them to take pictures of their cars- and send them in. Not a cheap research exercise, but really revealing. When they put the pictures up on the wall, the strategy became clear- and I believe it also applies to the BMW motorcycle messaging.
The photos were amazingly similar:
Volvo owners had pictures of the cars with their kids.
Mercedes pictures all were of the car and the house, on the curved driveway- with people dressed up- and BMW- well, those motorheads all took detail pictures of parts of the car: the BMW roundel, the gearshift knob, the logo on the back of the car, the engine. These people loved the machine. Hence- “the ultimate driving machine” came to be. At least that’s the story as I recall.
Back to the bad bike ads: the tag “the ride is on” means nothing. “The ultimate riding machine” means everything. The BMW riders I know, and the ones I see (when the weathers bad- that’s all I see) ride BMW because it is a technologically superior, reliable, responsive bike with things like ABS brakes and heated handgrips, that are there for one reason and one reason only- the ride. It’s not about being macho; it’s about being a rider who rides, who puts miles on the bike, who does it with style and confidence. Others get it, as evidenced by this dealer site: http://www.danburybmw.com/miscpage_002.asp. The BMW site, that’s another matter.
The BMW rider doesn’t need a 100 lbs of chrome to say, “I’m a biker” because they spend more time riding than polishing chrome. Actions speak louder than chrome. Next time you walk by a row of bikes- start looking at odometers, the BMW will be the one with the most miles on the newest bike almost every time.
Most of the time I ride past the rice-burner crotch-rocket crowd, they aren’t even on their bikes, they’re all milling around, posing. I don’t need 163 HP to blow by them; I don’t even need to shift out of second.
This ad, on the inside front cover of Aug 2005 Playboy cost BMW sales. Here was the chance to explain why you don’t need a Harley for your mid-life crisis, you need to say, “I’m sophisticated, I’m different, I’m one who knows the best motorcycle on the planet” instead of screaming, I’m still a little boy with a little penis.
Someone needs to cook some agency creative ass. This ad is an embarrassment, and the dealers deserve better. Never mind the BMW faithful that always have to smile and tell people that BMW has made bikes since 1923, thank you.
What do you think?
added note: BMW (and any other major advertiser) should post their print ads on their web site. This post has been copied into biker forums where it is the subject of much (heated) discussion.
Seems that many “crotch rocket” riders are offended- these are the people that BMW might want to convert one day. Oh yeah, they do like the fact that the bike is popping a wheelie- a totally unsafe and unBMW type riding style.
August 2nd, 2005 at 3:20pm
I felt their mostly B&W ad campaign using real riders was on to something brilliant. Then they ruined it by doing something resembling “around the world with 80 different women” – and as far as i can tell, it’s been downhill from there.
Prime example for their lack of promotional teeth: their 80th anniversary event in Tahoe several years ago. Lots of prep, but very few ended up finding out about it. No one heard the tree fall.
August 17th, 2005 at 3:31am
I’m not in advertising, but I’ve been a BMW rider for 30 years – and I agree – BMW Motorad has lost it! See my perspective at http://www.epinions.com/content_4146897028
September 16th, 2005 at 4:33pm
Wow.
On an innocent google search about BMW ads, I hit the jackpot. See, I’m the “micro-dick copy jock” who wrote this ad. (Your use of such terminology on your agency site brands you as the small time wanna be that you are, by the way.) From your rambling and desperate diatribe I’m not exactly sure why you loathe this ad so much. I’ll guess that you’re some kind of expert on motorcycle advertising. Funny, I didn’t see any examples of your expertise on your AWESOME site. Rather, I see ads for pet food stores and nothing baseball teams and other mega-accounts in the sizzling hot ad mecca known as Dayton, Ohio. (Nothing against the midwest, I’m from Indiana, but please get over the fact that you’re still stuck there.) Me? I’ve done ads for BMW Motorcycles for 5 years, winning all sorts of awards including being a Kelly Finalist. The work we’ve done has helped BMW’s sales triple during that time. Anyway, just so you know, the ad was intended to spark some controversy. (Mission accomplished.) Since BMW finally made a bike that can compete with the Japanese sport cycles, the idea was to aggressively challenge them with a hard-hitting ‘get under the skin’ communication. This bike has 163 horsepower so it has no problem hanging with anything on the road. Sure the copy’s puffed up, but who do you think rides sport bikes? Kindly old grandmothers? In the sport bike crowd it’s all about cajones. I know. I see dickheads in flip flops rocket by me every day and most of them are such shitty riders that they have to paddlefoot through traffic because they have no balance skills whatsoever. This ad was intended to position BMW to a younger, louder, adrenaline-fueled crowd instead of the typical BMW middle aged pipe-smoking gent that everyone associates with BMW bikes. Ever been to Daytona Bike Week? Ever seen how dorky BMW riders can look in their Kevlar suits and full face helmets while everyone else is dressed in leather with their arm pit hair waving in the breeze? Do you have any idea of the marketing situation BMW Motorcycles faces? If you did you’d understand why this ad was created, and how non-traditional it is.
Also: on the forums you provide a link to, most of the riders had no problem with this ad, and many of them actually liked it. So you’re wrong there in a big way. (Do your homework, ad god) And as for ‘The Ride is On,” which I also wrote, I can tell you exactly what it means. It means things happening. Stasis turning into action. Tactile excitement. Like when the green flag waves at the Indy 500 and the anncr says “The Race is On.” Which, by the way, is NASCAR’s line this year. So if it means “nothing” why did the 800 lb gorilla of motorsports rip if off so cleanly? Ah, well. I don’t suppose you know the answer to that one, either as you’re probably too busy crafting another industrial video for Mattress Barn.
Anyway, thanks for riling me up on a slow day. Keep up the small time, mean spirited, sour grapes, know-it-all routine I’m sure it’ll bring your agency’s billings up to 1.4 million dollars one day.
And as for the ‘micro-dick’ accusation, what can I say.
Eight inches of impossibly thick man-missle can appear hopelessly small sometimes.
Now I think I’ll stroll out onto the grimy streets of Manhattan and kiss the ground and thank baby Jesus that I got the hell out of the Midwest.
September 16th, 2005 at 5:11pm
And girls, if you are intested in his “eight inches of impossibly thick…”
his e-mail is glogothetis@merkleyandpartners.com
his visit info: he looked at 30 pages, 116 hits 2.23 MB bandwidth used 16 Sep 2005 – 17:49
and- for the record: we’ve never done work for a pet food store or a baseball team.
September 19th, 2005 at 2:41pm
If anyone would like a poster of the infamous Hibachi
ad please contact me at the above listed email and I will send you one. Since BMW loves the ad so much they are printing a few thousand as give-aways. Dave, thanks for helping us spread the word and prove how effective
a good old fashioned aggressive headline can be.
September 26th, 2005 at 9:01am
These rants have been very interesting. GD Logo- you are a might touchy about your work. Didn’t realize that the BMW crowd came off as dorks. Anyway, here goes-
Sorry David, but the ad isn’t that bad. I kind of like it and will contact GD for a poster. I guess I’m a 20 to 30 something wanabee but in my 50’s. The Harley crowd doesn’t do it for me.
GD- maybe you got 5 years on the account, but being in Manhattan does not help your credibility. You may not even own a car, much less a motorcyle. Don’t slam the midwest- nobody is stuck here. Better than Manhattan.
September 27th, 2005 at 2:10pm
Whew! That’s quite a pissing contest we have going on here, boys! And over boy-toys at that! It reminds me of the days when my brother played army and the boys would fight over who shot whom. I used to think that there was a lot of reincarnation going on in the battlefield! My mom got so sick of the fighting that she got out rolls of masking tape, applied it with the sticky side out across the chests of the kids and stuck fizzies on the tape…then she handed out squirt guns. When your fizzies were gone, you were dead. Funny though, after the novelty of the fizzies wore off, and other moms recovered from all the stained t-shirts, playing army just wasn’t as fun…it seems the real pleasure wasn’t the make believe battles – but rather the word war. So, what IS your addiction?
Now, regarding the anatomical commentaries… you guys really need to get a clue about what women want! Size does matter, but not when it comes to the anatomy. Really, if you guys keep ranting about each other’s family jewels, your fizzies may be gone too!
As far as the commentary about the midwest is concerned, bigotry comes in many packages…
November 3rd, 2005 at 6:34pm
Well, I am tbe 20 some odd target audience I suppose. I ride a R1100S and R1150 GS, and boy, are they fun!
I understand where David is coming from, but not so extreme. I can’t say I agree with him, but the response that came from GD Logo is pathetic.
The dorky guys in kevlar suits, and full face helmets? Please, it is all about safety. (although I do like to smoke the occasional crotch rocket on my kraut rocket..They never know what hit them.)
Basically, GD is totally unprofessional in posting his replies while attacking somebody who doesn’t like the ad. I almost feel like forwarding this post to his manager or something like that. If GD were to work for me, or represent me in any way whatsoever, we’d probably talk about profesionalism and behavior while representing said company.
I guess ultimately I think GD is an asshat, and his self-righteous Manhattan-ite ass needs to stay there, so I don’t have to run him over on my GS in another part of the country….
February 6th, 2006 at 11:56am
[...] Why do we know this works? Well, in this blog we posted a BMW motorcycle ad because we thought it was, well, kind of lame. Apparently a lot of people on various motorcycle forums wanted to discuss it too- and linked to it- off our site, instead of to the BMW Motorrad site. So a few rules about placing your Super Bowl spots on the web: [...]
February 12th, 2006 at 4:38pm
To David Esrati.
May I translate and bring your article here (“Why BMW riders hear “I didn’t know BMW made motorcycles” all the time.”) on my hobby website, or do you prefer a direct link?
I ask, because I’d like to translate the article into danish, since the main language on my website is danish.
Sincerely,
M. Andersen, Denmark.
February 12th, 2006 at 5:09pm
Translate away-
but please have a link back to the original.
February 14th, 2006 at 3:33pm
Thanks, and of course.
MBA, DK.
May 12th, 2006 at 9:27pm
[...] The guy who gave the greenlight to an ad that didn’t get the brand voice, has now chosen a new agency- to “boost its online presence.” Unfortunately, this is another case of the blind leading the blind – Marketing Communication Director Laurence Kurkendall (who used to work at former agency Merkley + Partners- before jumping to the client side) picked “The Concept Farm” as the new agency- because of their “capabilities in guerilla, interactive and Web work” – yet their site still has a retarded Flash intro and only indexes three pages in Google. Kurkendall claims that Merkley lost key players on the account who were “motorcycle aficionados” – yet, the people at Merkley seemed to have a contempt for the people who choose to ride BMW- as can be witnessed by the exchange on this site late last year. Quite frankly, with a two-million dollar ad budget and requiring motorcycle riding creatives, one must wonder if NYC is the right place to have the account? Not only are costs lower in other parts of the country- but the likelihood of having people who ride their motorcycles more than the subway is statistically higher. The good news for the Concept Farm is that they can’t do much worse than the “Hibachi” ad- the bad news for BMW riders is that the guy who approved that ad- still is in charge. Please note- the closest BMW motorcycle dealer to Dayton OH closed Dec. 31 (Cincinnati), Indianapolis closed last year- and I’ve heard rumor that the dealer in Athens OH no longer stocks new bikes. Hint to BMW Motorrad- if we can’t get to a dealer- no amount of advertising, guerilla or online- will help you sell more bikes. [...]
June 6th, 2006 at 10:21am
As a long time BMW enthusiast, I wasn’t the least bit offended by the ‘cooking japanese’ ad campaign. No more offended, I suppose, than when the Munich manufacturer decided to take a 4 cylinder motorcycle engine and turn it laterally in the frame like the japanese have been doing for about 35 years. I say it’s about damn time BMW produced a machine that can even hold a candle to the performance standards laid down by the competition.
As far as the war of words between David and GD Logo goes, you two need to get a life. The former needs to get busy finding new accounts and doing real work instead of seeding sour grapes about an ad campaign/account serviced by the competition and the latter needs to grow the fuck up. By belittling the riders of the client’s product in which his ad was targeting, GD Logo reveals his true opinion about BMW riders. An opinion that I’m most assuredly going to share with my Munich bretheren. Gee, perhaps with the help of your super cool influence and some penis enhancing drugs, I can someday lose my aerostitch and stand in the shadow of your awesome manliness. Not.
July 1st, 2006 at 3:24pm
Forget the ads. Where are the dealers? Anything man made can break. Dealers are folding faster than one can keep track. Perhaps the negative attitude at BMW Corporate has left a vile taste in the dealer’s mouths. BMW Motorrad needs to recruit dealers and customers with positive attitudes and realistic expectations.
And perhaps a “BMW” made bike under $10k and one low enought that a person 5′6″ can sit on the seat and be flat footed on the pavement at the same time would increase sales. Not every potential customer is a Nordic at over six feet tall and not everyone can spend fifteen thousand dollars plus for a toy that is not a necessity of life.
I liked the factoid that 50% of the bikes are still on the road because that number will decline when the engine and ABS computers quit after seven years and no one can fix the board let alone find a replacement. Long live a carb, plugs, points and a condensor!
July 20th, 2006 at 10:51am
[...] As many of you know, we run a seminar on using a blog (specifically WordPress) as a content management system for a business website. The news section of The Next Wave site (where you are now) was added in January of 2005 and now accounts for most of the traffic on our site. Although we got an early start on having a website (our first site went up in 1994) and we soon figured (back while everyone was still on dial-up) that Flash wasn’t the way to build an entire site (later we looked really smart- since search engines and Flash don’t go together very well)- we were pretty slow to realize how important webstats are to providing customer feedback and marketing opportunities. The reason: when our content didn’t change often, neither did our web stats. That all changed with the news/blog- and analyzing web stats has become one of the most important parts of our seminar. As you add content- people find your site using different search terms- and link to you for different reasons- these are all opportunities to do business or learn about your customers. It’s how we decided to begin the seminars- and it’s also taught us a lot about how to build websites for our customers- so they can get more customers. Just like there are keywords- or trigger words in print advertising (Free- being the “best” one), search terms can tell you a lot about your customers hot buttons. For us, guerrilla ad campaigns, viral marketing, and non-traditional advertising have been hot topics- as have low-budget ads. In a highly competitive media environment, it’s become obvious that just spending more on traditional media isn’t a cost effective solution. The flip-side is, many of these potential clients aren’t willing to pay for the services to get the “more bang for your marketing buck” to the agency for coming up with the “big idea.” One of the places we find the big idea for a client- or at least get a start on the idea, is by searching through their well crafted website stats- where the search terms can show what’s on customers minds. Think of a website stats package as a way to eavesdrop on your virtual sales floor- as if you had a way to listen to every single customer that had an interest in your products. When we land a retail client, we like to do site studies- where we observe customer interactions with our clients staff, the environment, the product, the sales process- and then make suggestions on improvements. We also visit the competition and do the same analysis. We want to discover what drives your most profitable customers to shop with you – and how to find more like them. We can do the same with visiting your sites backend- analyze, review, and build new strategies to connect and close the sale. To repeat what we’ve said before- it’s imperative for a business to post all marketing materials online, in a place with a unique url link, and in a format that can be shared. Let the customer print your ad, own your TV spot, be able to listen to your radio spot over and over if they so choose. Even better- let them link back to your page, comment on the ad, be able to find out everything they can about it- because it most probably is what brought them to your site in the first place (isn’t that the reason you ran the ad in the first place). One of our most popular posts was where we scanned and posted a BMW motorcycle ad, and placed the copy in a Google friendly format (remember, search engines can’t read flash- or the text in the contents of a jpg file) – another was where we compared an Apple TV campaign to a Burger King TV spot- which brought us mad traffic for information on the BK spot. For all the creativity Crispin Porter Bogusky showed in the BK spot and the strategy, they made it hard for people to find out where “I am man, hear me roar” came from. So instead of driving people to Burger Kings site, where they could have been rewarded with a special offer, or discovered additional information about the product- like the exact ingredients in a Texas Double Whopper- they were on our site. One of the outcomes of the BMW ad- is that when people search for “BMW motorcycles in Dayton” they end up on our site- and are disappointed that we were mentioning that our market has lost it’s closest dealer- partially because BMW hasn’t been successful at driving traffic to the shops- in our opinion, because of lackluster advertising and a poor web strategy. We are now getting a lot of traffic on our site for people searching out answers to marketing questions- so we’re starting a new category: Practical marketing 101. We will be writing about ways to build successful marketing plans- utilizing well built websites as a basis for formulating sales plans that generate high traffic- especially for smaller businesses- independent businesses and our favorite type of client- the underdog. We hope this helps you understand what The Next Wave means when we say we aren’t just an “ad agency”- but a source for marketing and innovation. What do you think? [...]
July 21st, 2006 at 8:25am
Read more about this- on Chromeheads-
http://www.chromeheads.org/discus/messages/10/254509.html?1151425105
there are other discussion boards linking to this article- I’ll try to start posting the links.
December 26th, 2006 at 9:34am
I just discovered this thread, so pardon my tardiness. While I can certainly see both sides, there’s a third issue nobody seemed to mention. The demands of the client placed upon the agency. First, we have a product that IMHO is poorly placed – it’s a niche of a niche – the rider that wants the Hayabusa or ZX-14, but also wants BMW resale values – not a very big audience. The bike can’t really compete, and dilutes the corporate brand essence. While the bike is brilliant (and perfectly BMW) as the K1200GT, as the S model it loses face as well as mindshare. Conversely, the product managers on the R-bike side of Motorrad know what’s going on with their target market – witness the R1200S. To me, making an inline-4 that’s 50% more $$ than the competition, with sketchy technology and shaft drive is like a Jaguar estate – it answers a question the market didn’t ask.
So, you have an ill-placed product from a manufacturer that’s trying to broaden the appeal of their products to a wider base, using a product that doesn’t “do it” on any level. You just *know* that agency brief was a real dandy to work with. There’s nothing worse than a client who launches a product that’s not right for their market, and thinks they can be something else. BMW is proving successful in so many other niches, but it simply can’t compete here. Chances are, the brief already set the tone for the ad before a copywriter ever saw it.
I would cut any agency slack on this one – the job wasn’t one I would want.
August 8th, 2007 at 10:06am
It’s an awesome bike,(don’t like the headlight settings at all!) and today 08Aug2007, the new
model with a half fairing is a Perfect machine
for touring as well as racing…hands down.
January 16th, 2008 at 3:40am
More power to BMW! Japan for years has flooded the market with cheap disposable motorcycles. Many are non-original thinker models virtual copies of Harley Davidson or BMW. BMW riders demand much from the product and get a lot in return. I for one will never own a Japanese car or motorcycle. It is a combination of knowing I own the real thing, my preference for German quality and the durability and reliability of BMW.
I drive a Porsche 911 because no Japanese car has either the tradition, image, over-design or distinctiveness. I feel the same way about the bikes.
BMW motorcycles are typically owned by educated hard working folks, mostly men. A BMW is a mans reward for doing the right things in life. Pride and quality go hand in hand. There is no pride in owning a Jap bike with mediocre paint, no ABS, poor chrome and quality control.
I am proud to say that no Japanese vehicle is in my garage.
The K1200R is a fabulous bike. The add tells the truth. Live with it.
Keep in mind in the 1970’s Japan tried to put Harley under by flooding the market with cheap bikes. Than REagan for protective tarriffs. Also, cheap powerful Jap bikes are killing off our young men. No they can’t afford a 16,000.00 K1200R, but an 18yr old can get a cheap nippon crotch rocket with 130+ horsepower for half the price and go kill himself.
Good work BMW!
January 20th, 2008 at 8:26pm
The bike can be great but a luxury…and like any other luxury you gotta have money to splurge…I stick my guns with the Japs and enjoy riding within my budget…
October 10th, 2009 at 5:16am
That story about the disposable cameras sent to car owners is one to grow on. Something like that could have saved Pontiac and helped GM define their other brands.
January 22nd, 2010 at 7:14pm
All arguing aside, my boyfriend has a K1200 and he really loved the “Hibachi” ad, even though he’s in his 50s and has been riding motorcycles since he was 12.
I just wish I could find one of those posters that Merkley printed up. Hell, I’ll even pay for it.
I tracked down “GD Logo” at his current location and sent him an email, hoping he’d still have a few lying about, but he couldn’t be arsed to even return my email.